DURGA SLAYING MAHISHA

Cult Art

Fine Art Giclée Print

Co-created and published by PINEAPPLE GALLERY

Print Dimensions: 54cm x 36cm

Original Works: unknown

Durga is the name of the goddess who personifies the sum total of the powers of all the male gods combined.

When she vanquishes the fierce buffalo demon named Mahisha, she is described as having many arms, each holding a different weapon: bow and arrow, trident, discus, shield, sword, mace, and the conch shell that sounds the start of battle.

The horizontal lines on her arms are sectarian markings.

At the moment depicted in this painting, she has succeeded in beheading the buffalo demon and shooting arrows into his true form that climbs from its neck.

Artists in the foothills of the western Himalayas, where this work was made, depicted Durga’s mount as a tiger—lions and tigers had synonymous meaning throughout India as emblems of shakti, or divine creative energy.

The nine manifestations of Durga are worshipped during Navaratri in the month of Ashwin of the Hindu calendar.

Durga is associated with two mountain ranges, the Himalayas in the north and the VIndhyas in central India. She is Paravati in the Himalayas; daughter of the mountains.

Durga images have been found in Afghanistan (ancient Gandhara) and also in Tibet.

Durga (Sanskrit: दुर्गा, IAST: Durgā), is a principal and popular form of the Hindu Goddess, she’s is a goddess of war whose mythology centres around combating evils and demonic forces that threaten peace, prosperity, and Dharma the power of good over evil.

Durga is also a fierce form of the protective mother goddess, who unleashes her divine wrath against the wicked for the liberation of the oppressed, and entails destruction to empower creation.

She is depicted in the Hindu pantheon as a Goddess riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon as in this title. She is a central deity in Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, where she is equated with the concept of ultimate reality called Brahman.

One of the most important texts of Shaktism is Devi Mahatmya, which celebrates Durga as the goddess, declaring her as the supreme being and the creator of the universe.